The present disclosure generally relates to compositions and methods which use one or more polyphenols to improve or maintain musculoskeletal health. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to administering a composition comprising one or more polyphenols to treat, prevent or reduce the progression of sarcopenia; reduce a loss of muscle functionality (e.g. muscle strength, gait speed, etc.); increase muscle functionality, and/or improve recovery of muscle functionality after muscle atrophy or injury.
Muscle loss manifests itself in several life-threating diseases, including sarcopenia. The balance between atrophy (loss) and hypertrophy (gain) is key to the maintenance of skeletal muscle mass. However, skeletal muscle is terminally differentiated, so an understanding of the mechanisms allowing this plasticity is central to long-term health and survival.
Sarcopenia is defined as the age-associated loss of muscle mass and functionality (including muscle strength and gait speed). Muscle functionality and physical ability decline with the loss of muscle mass. Impaired muscle functionality is highly predictive of the incidence of immobility, disability, and mortality in advanced age. With the rising elderly population, sarcopenia becomes increasingly prevalent such that 45% of the elderly U.S. population has moderate-to-severe symptoms. The U.S. health care direct and indirect costs attributable to sarcopenia reach nearly $19 billion. Therefore, prevention and/or treatment of sarcopenia would have a great impact on the health and quality of life of our society and consequently on the economy associated with health care. Unfortunately, the etiology and the physiopathological mechanism of sarcopenia are still poorly understood, making effective measures for prevention or treatment difficult.
One of the main hypotheses developed to explain the progressive muscle loss observed with aging is a decreased anabolic effect of meal ingestion due to a lower stimulation of muscle protein synthesis by the nutrients. This hypothesis is called muscle anabolic resistance. In addition, oxidative stress and/or low grade inflammation have also been demonstrated to be associated with frailty in the elderly and could be partly responsible for anabolic resistance either directly or through a decreased sensitivity of muscle to insulin.